Second Nature

Chicago City Hall's Green Roof

Some people are new to the “green roof” concept. Hopefully this helps!

Green roofs are used to:

• Grow fruits, vegetables, and flowers
• Reduce heating (by adding mass and thermal resistance value) and cooling (by evaporative cooling) loads on a building – especially if it is glassed in so as to act as a terrarium and passive solar heat reservoir – a concentration of green roofs in an urban area can even reduce the city’s average temperatures during the summer
• Increase roof life span
• Reduce stormwater run off 
• Filter pollutants and carbon dioxide out of the air
• The soil and plants on green roofs help to insulate a building for sound; the soil helps to block lower frequencies and the plants block higher frequencies
• Filter pollutants and heavy metals out of rainwater
• Increase wildlife habitat in built-up areas

- JM

www.secondnatureconsulting.com